


Winter Flowers Blooming

by pastaandscones



Category: Captain America (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: And longer beginning, Bucky Barnes as Captain America, F/M, Female Steve Rogers, I channeled "Up" into the beginning chapters, I don't even really ship Stucky?, I have no clue what I'm doing with this, It just kind of happened?, Kind of sad start, Only not as sad, Steve Rogers as the Winter Soldier, Work In Progress, slow start
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-10-06
Updated: 2015-06-10
Packaged: 2018-02-20 02:38:31
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,438
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2411906
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/pastaandscones/pseuds/pastaandscones
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>It was never really broadcasted. Everybody knew something happened to Stephanie. She was Captain America, the Country's sweetheart who traveled across the US kissing babies and selling bonds before she went to Europe and really sent shit to the fan.<br/>They never said what happened to her.<br/>But people sure as hell noticed the new "Captain America". He wondered if they would notice when he went missing, too.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. All Things Have a Beginning

**Author's Note:**

  * Inspired by [Tempest in a Teapot](https://archiveofourown.org/works/1167506) by [AvocadoLove](https://archiveofourown.org/users/AvocadoLove/pseuds/AvocadoLove). 



> I don't even know any more.  
> So, I was reading Tempest in a Teapot by Avacoda Love(Awesome story, you guys should read it.).  
> Then I decided to write my own version of Captain Bucky.  
> And then I turned Steve into a girl.  
> And then they just kind of shipped themselves together. You know, in the first chapter?  
> I mean, what the hell? I don't even ship Stucky that much? I'm much more of a Stony fan.  
> I only have the first and part of the second chapter written so far, but I do have a scene I really wanna get to which had started the whole "Steve is a girl and married to Bucky" thing.

Stephanie Rogers was a sickly girl. Always had been, and she was sure she always will be.

She was content.

At lease she said she was, and Bucky Barnes was in no position to argue with her over whether she was happy or not.

Last time he tried that, she threw a book at his head and it actually connected. And it fucking hurt. Not that there had been a lot of force behind it, with Stephanie being about ninety pounds soaking wet, but the corner of the book had caught him. Then she began to apologize profusely.

Stephanie was a very pretty girl, with light blonde hair and big blue eyes. If only she wasn’t so thin, and always dressed in threadbare clothing. She never wore make-up. They couldn’t afford it, and she said she didn’t mind. It wasn’t like she went out on the town, other than when Bucky dragged her out. She was also very kind and caring, with a bit of a fire in her. She stood up to men who could easily break her in half, and the only reason she probably hadn’t been beaten to death was: 1) they were hesitant to hit a dame, and 2) Bucky wasn’t too far to step in and drag Stephanie off.

And, for some reason, there weren’t men lined up outside the door to try their chances at getting such a wonderful dame. Not that Bucky minded. He didn’t want to be fighting men off his best friend. But when he brought it up, Stephanie would laugh and say it’s because “men didn’t want a girl who look like she would break if she tried to dance with them”, which would cause Bucky to frown at her.

Bucky tried to save money to get his best friend nice things. She deserved the things other women had. The nice clothes, the make-up, and all those things that women liked.  She worked two jobs, one as a waitress at a small dinner down the street and the other drawing for newspapers, and still took care of him. She always had dinner waiting for him, and cleaned the house on her days off. She put up with the rumors that floated around about her, living unmarried with a man and all.

Even when he tried to buy her nice things, something came up that needed to be fixed. The windows needed to be fixed up, and Stephanie was getting sick from the cold draft that came through, the sink was busted beyond what he could repair, or (by his fault) the radio got busted and Stephanie couldn’t listen to it to make clean a bit more bearable, or she needed medicine.

He really didn’t know how it happened. One moment, he was sitting at the table, reading the newspaper while Stephanie bustled around making breakfast as a start to their day, and the next moment he realizing something.

Stephanie, dressed for work in her light yellow dress with her hair pinned in place, was beautiful. This, Bucky had realized many times, and he always told her so and was laughed at by said woman. What he never realized was, he was completely and totally in love with this beautiful creature, even with her sickly nature and fiery temper that threw books at him.

“What’s the matter, Buck?” She asked when she noticed he was staring at her as she placed a plate in front of him.

He shook his head. “It’s nothing,” He said simply. She looked at him a moment longer before shrugging and sitting down to eat her breakfast.

“You aren’t coming down with something, are you?” She asked, concerned. “Maybe you should call in to work today. We can afford it.”

‘Afford it’ meaning she would pull extra hours at the diner.

“Nah, I’m fine. I swear, Steph.” He told her, and she dropped it. Verbally, at lease. That night, he had come home to find her cooking chicken soup.

ῲ

They lived in perfect harmony. Well, sort of perfect harmony.

He never told her that he loved her, and she never asked nor suspected. She did notice that the amount of women he dated decreased to basically zero, and when she asked he would say he had other things on his mind.

Stephanie (correctly) assumed there was a girl who caught his attention, and kept after him, asking who it was. He refused to tell her, and kept up the claim that there was no girl. When he made those claims, Stephanie would try to push the subject until she gave up, flinging her hands into the air and storming off to angrily scrub at the kitchen counter.

Eventually, she gave up on trying to find out who it was and just started giving him advice on how to get “this mysterious dame”.

He was content to just be her friend, honestly.

Stephanie deserved better then him. She deserved a fella who could buy her nice things like jewelry and pretty dresses. She deserved somebody who could support her, so she didn’t have to work two jobs and turn the thing she truly loved into something she had to do when they were strapped for cash.

She deserved somebody like Howard Stark, who could give her the world and moon if she asked for it.

Not somebody like him, who couldn’t even afford to buy her a pair of stockings.

Then America entered the war.

He knew that she wanted to help, to volunteer, to be a nurse like her mother had been. But, in truth, she never would be allowed to. At least, not how she wanted to be. They would never send her to the front lines to help the wounded and dying. She was just too goddamn sickly for that. Chances where, she would catch something out there.

They managed for a while. Things where scarce, and prices went up.

He considered joining the army, but quickly dismissed the idea.

He didn’t want to leave Stephanie to fend for herself. Even with both of their incomes, it was hard for them. Granted, he would send his wages. That was a given, even if she wouldn’t want to take them. But, he also didn’t want to be apart from Stephanie.

But, eventually, that choice was made for him.

He was conscripted into joining the army, into the war he just might not return from.

He hide it from Stephanie. He didn’t want her to worry. So, he simply didn’t tell her.

He kept it from her until a week he was scheduled to ship out, when she found the papers.

He honestly was going to tell her that night. He had everything planned out. He was going to wait until after dinner, and then he was going to tell her everything. And he did mean everything.

When he came home from work, he knew there was something bothering her. She was banging around the kitchen, slamming the fridge door, angrily knocking pots and pans together, and calling a greeting to him in a way to sugary sweet voice that he had learned a long time ago was a warning. He stayed well away from the kitchen, knowing better then to invoke her wrath. As skinny as she may be, she was also currently near knives.

They sat down for dinner, her with lips pressed in a thin line.

He didn’t question it, knowing if she wanted him to know she would say something. Plus, he had other things on his mind. Like how to avoid being murdered when he told her.

“How was your day?” She asked, in that tight forced-sweet voice. Well, that ruled out her being angry at anybody but him. He knew he hadn’t done anything to incur her wrath. Yet.

“Alright, I guess.” He shrugged as he dug into his dinner. “Nothing new.”

“Oh really?” Her voice was pitched higher and had him looking up in slight terror. “Nothing like, oh, you’ve been conscripted to fight in the war and conveniently forgot to tell me?”

Bucky cursed as he dropped his fork.

“Don’t worry, Buck.” She went on to say, throwing her napkin down on the table, next to her untouched plate. “I understand. I mean, I’m just your childhood friend. It’s not like I’m that dame that you never tell me about, who apparently won’t even look your way.” She stood, barely holding back tears. “I completely understand.”

She turned on her heel, heading to her room, as he stood.

“Steph, I was gonna tell you, I swear.” She stopped, but he could tell by the way she held herself she was still unbelievably pissed at him. Women. “I w _as_ going to tell you tonight.” He walked up behind her. “I think we have a few things to talk about.”

She refused to face him. “Like what?” She asked. He could hear the tears in her voice. Goddamn it, he hated when she cried. He hated it more when she cried because of him. He always had, and always will, hate when she cried. It made a heavy weight settle in his gut, and made him want to punch whoever caused her pain. It was something that had gotten him into trouble many times when they where children.

“Marry me.” She spun to face him, red-rimmed eyes wide and mouth open in shock. “Hear me out, before you say anything.” He took her hands in his. “I’m in love with you, Stephanie Josephine Rogers. I think I fell in love with you the moment I saw you, standing up to bullies, knowing they couldn’t do anything because you were a girl and they weren’t. I didn’t tell you about me being conscripted because I didn’t want you to worry about me, plus I was trying to figure out a way for you to be taken care of. I _would_ date you proper like, but given the circumstances.” He shrugged, wincing to himself slightly. “If anything where to happen to me while I was gone, I want to make sure you are taken care of.” He pulled out the ring, his mother’s ring, out of his pocket. He didn’t get to continue before she threw herself into his chest, sobbing slightly.

“I always worry about you, you jerk.” She said, as he slowly raised his arms to encircle her. “I don’t want you to regret marrying me.” She began to pull away, but he pulled her back.

“I could never regret marrying you, Steph.”

ῲ

They went to city hall the next day. Not only could they not afford a big wedding, but they didn’t have time for a big ceremony. Stephanie said she didn’t want one, anyways. Bucky knew it was a lie. He knew she wanted to have a wedding in the church her parents attended, where she was baptized, ever since they were kids.

When he got back, he told himself, he was going to give her the wedding she wanted. He would give her everything she wanted, he would make sure of that. He would get a nice job, and they would move out of that tiny apartment and have a kids and a dog. Not a cat, though. Stephanie was allergic. They would get a dog, maybe one of those small yippy things if she wanted it.

Stephanie wore her best dress, and put on the little makeup she had. They were appointed witnesses by the courts, because they had nobody to come out to witness them signing the papers.

To celebrate, they went to the Stark Expo and they went dancing.


	2. A Hero is Born

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm so sorry for taking so long to post. I actually intended to make this chapter longer, but I need to watch the first Cap movie and it's been so long. It was actually a bit of a struggle to get this out as it is.

There was a backlash to Bucky’s plan.

Even though he was sure that Stephanie would be taken care of now, that she would get the money and benefits if he was killed in action, he wanted to leave her even less.

After all those years of silently watching her, wanting to hold her and call her by those silly pet names, to kiss her, and tell her he loved her every day, he finally could.

The remaining week pasts in a blissful blur, and at the end of it, he’s left standing on the edge of the platform with regret.

Regret that he didn’t tell her sooner, so they could do things properly.

He held her, vowing to come back. Back to her, so they could have a long life together. He swore on high hell that he would come back to her. She told him just to stay safe, to worry about coming back alive rather than just to her.

He kissed her like his life depended on it as the train whistled in the background.

He watched as Stephanie stood on the platform, watching him leave.

ῲ

They exchanged letters, when they could. Stephanie wrote about what was going on back home, about both national news and local gossip. Her letters where long, and more often than not written on drawing paper.

Bucky kept every single one of them.

He wrote back when he got the chance. He told her news of the front lines, being careful not to give too much away. (He trusted Stephanie, but he knew that the letters would be scanned by Censors, who would black out “information to sensitive” as a precaution, “in case Nazi armies intercepted it”.) In every letter, he would remind her that he loved her, and that he would be back to her side as soon as he could.

It was through the letters they had started to plan their family. They would adopt their first child, from the same orphanage they had stayed in as children. After a few years, if the doctors gave her the ok, they would have a child of their own. If not, they could always adopt again.

Bucky made some good buddies among the other soldiers. They traded stories about the girls they left back home. When Bucky told stories of Stephanie, the men would laugh and say that “he had his hands full with that one”.

Then, Bucky got the letter.

It started off as a normal Stephanie letter, talking about things that were happening around their neighborhood. It went onto national news, and then she dropped the bomb, continuing on as if she was talking about the weather.

There was a government project that she was asked to volunteer for, one that she could not disclose much about. All she could say was that the project was headed by a brilliant scientist.

She accepted the offer, of course she did. She was Stephanie. She was always trying to help people and she never thought of what that would mean for her.

By the time he had actually received the letter, it was too late. The project would be underway and all he could do was wait for a response from his wife, to let him know she was ok.

ῲ

Stephanie felt a bit guiltily. Only a little bit, though. She knew that if she had waited for Bucky’s actual response on Project Rebirth, two things would happen.

1) It would be too late, that they would move onto another candidate and she would be of no use to them.

2) Bucky would more than likely be against the whole experiment. She couldn’t even tell him what it was about, in fear that the letter would be intercepted and the details of the experiment would leak out.

Doctor Erskine was very impressed by her. She trained with the rest of the candidates, who were men. She shared quarters with the other women on base, naturally, but she was up early and training with the rest of them, even with her frail health. He saw the determination in her, the urge to prove herself, and her ‘good heart’.

General Phillips, however, was not as impressed. She was skinny, she has a history of bad health, she was sweating and barely keeping up with the rest of the men, and, worse of all, she was a woman. These, apparently, where all huge strikes against her in his eyes. Not that he had anything against women, but he wanted a soldier. Not a nurse. Women had their place, and on the battle field was not it.

Agent Carter helped her when she could. She said it was admirable to see another woman trying so hard, to win a place where no woman really went. Peggy was really her only friend on base. The other women sneered at her, and the men thought she was going to go home in a few weeks, not being able to take the training.

Peggy laughed with her that night when she got the flag by knocking over the pole, away from the eyes of the men. Because apparently the men were not smart enough to think of it. After all, the sergeant never said they couldn’t bring the flag down to their level.

Erskine eventually picked her out of all the men. He insisted that her body, her health, her gender, didn’t matter. The Serum would take care of the first two, if it worked. What mattered was her heart.

ῲ

Peggy was in the car with her, and she pointed out all the places where Bucky had stepped in to defend her honor, and all the places Stephanie had tried to prove to Bucky she could hold her own.

After a while, it just got pathetic.

Peggy asked if she had something against backing down, and Stephanie responded by asking her if she couldn’t stand up in what she believed in, what could she stand up for?

Stephanie was lead to a secret basement in a small store. There, she was introduced to a slightly shameless man named Howard Stark.

“Stark?” She asked. “I was at the Stark Expo, my husband and I went before he was shipped off. Your flying car was very… interesting.”

Mr. Stark didn’t have a response to that, although Stephanie wasn’t sure if it was the mention of Bucky or the mention of his failure.

Stephanie could see the disapproving looks of the gathered politicians and reporters as she was stripped down to a white undershirt tucked into a very loose skirt, strapped in and given the penicillin shot.

Erskine put a comforting hand on her shoulder as Stark began the count down, pulling away as the experiment started and the serum was injected.

She took a breath as the machine (she tried hard not to think of it as a metal casket) lifted into a standing position and closed.

There was a light knock. “Stephanie, can you hear me?”

“Yes, Doctor.” She said, knowing now was not the best time for a joke.

She heard “we will proceed” and the humming of machines and the machine filled with a bright light. The light was warm, growing hotter as it continued to glow. Stephanie didn’t know how long she had been in the machine, but she felt blinding pain rip through her as she body began to shift. Bones remodeled themselves, skin stretched and repaired, muscles began to grow. Things that should have taken years, condensed into seconds, minutes, maybe even hours.

She tried to hold back her scream, but it ripped itself out of her throat.

She could hear them clamoring outside of the machine, and she tried to tell them she was ok. But the pain evaded her senses.

Then she heard “shut it down” and Doctor Erskine began to order the machine off.

“No!” She scream, pain making it hard. “I can do this!”

She figured she was heard, because the light increased. The pain started to ebb away as her body settled, and she stopped screaming, throat raw and hoarse.

Soon, she didn’t know how long but she knew it was soon, the machine open as she laid against the padded seat, panting. Sweat coated her skin and made the now-indecently-tight undershirt and skirt cling to her with dampness.

Doctor Erskine and Mr. Stark helped her out, helping her stand as she got use to the new height she was standing at, with new muscles. She was actually standing taller than the two men supporting her weight.

Her, tiny little Stephanie Rogers who could have been carried off by a strong gust of wind, standing taller than not one, but two men. Both of which had been taller than her no more than five minutes ago, if Mr. Stark’s wristwatch was anything to go by.

Peggy rushed down the stairs to meet her, hesitantly putting a hand to Stephanie’s bicep.

Stephanie felt giddy. It worked. It really worked.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Bad ending is bad. I'm sosososososo sorry.

**Author's Note:**

> God, first chapter is kind of sappy. Can't wait till I get to the killing things part. IF I end up there. I really hope I do.  
> Comments are much appreciated.  
> You randomly showing up on my doorstep with peppermint is more appreciated. (I'm kidding about the peppermint. Please don't show up on my doorstep. I will call the cops.)


End file.
